IIT Delhi and Indian Air Force (IAF) have joined hands for AI-powered research on technical textiles. Group Captain Prashant Pathak said that this collaboration will work for the selection of raw material (fabric) for various parachutes and safety equipment.

Headquarters Maintenance (HQ) Command, Indian Air Force Nagpur, and IIT Delhi have signed this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on advancing innovative technologies for aviation textiles.

According to Group Captain Prashant Pathak, Commanding Officer 16 BRD, some of the areas of interest for collaboration include development of modern technologies/equipment for technical textile testing and latest standards available for incorporation into product designs related to parachute and safety equipment.

Some areas of interest for collaboration, he said, include: Implementing AI/Robotics or imaging technologies for quality acceptance checks of fabric raw material and finished products; innovating machine learning-based imaging technology of finished products such as pilot parachute, brake parachute or cargo parachute canopies, associated harnesses and crew restraint systems etc received from the field units for repair; design and development, reliability studies, simulation studies, life extension studies of parachutes and associated accessories.

The MoU was signed by Professor Naresh Bhatnagar, Dean (R&D), IIT Delhi, and Group Captain Prashant Pathak. Under the MoU, IIT Delhi and HQ Maintenance, IAF Nagpur, will co-operate, collaborate and promote research and development in areas of obsolescence management, self-reliance, upgradations and digitisation through indigenisation in the field of aviation grade textiles.

Prof Rajendra Singh, Associate Dean, R&D, IIT Delhi, emphasised the importance of this partnership in addressing the Indian defence sector's growing demand for indigenisation. He highlighted the potential to leverage IIT Delhi's advanced research and IAF's practical expertise to develop innovative solutions for a wide range of aviation-grade textile products.

Prof Bipin Kumar, Project Coordinator from the Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering, IIT Delhi said the partnership between IIT Delhi and HQ Maintenance, IAF Nagpur, is expected to contribute to India's self-reliance in defence technology.